Bill’s owners even complied, telling Romney (in his words) that taxes, regulation and – well, you know the drill – killed the pig. Romney even has a new ad he hopes can swing the ‘cue crowd to his corner.

Only problem is .. the economy didn’t kill Bill’s. Bill’s did.

It’s been a while since I’ve lived in Richmond (suburban Henrico County, to be precise). But the Bill’s Barbecue I remember was a greasy pile of bad meat, whose locations were in areas that, perhaps, sometimes justified Virginia’s concealed gun law permits.

But that was just me and my high school memories of more than a decade ago. I decided to quiz a few friends who still live there. Here were some responses:

“Never did eat anything in there I would have called barbecue.”

“Anyone under 70 in Richmond looking for barbecue would clearly go to Buzz and Ned’s or Extra Billys…both of which are local establishments…and delicious.”

“I think Bill’s Barbecue really got into trouble when it replaced the mesquite wood chips in its BBQ smoker with a robust mixture of employees’ soiled boxers and the tears of children.”

Bill’s had been failing for a long time. Businesses sometimes do that. “Creative destruction” is something capitalists are supposed to approve of. But Romney sometimes glosses over that when he goes on one of his “more capitalist than you” rants.